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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
World
Rachel Smith & Seamus McDonnell

GMP officer accused of swapping police information for sex favours was suspended for four years on FULL PAY

A GMP officer who was accused of misusing police computers after a woman said she would 'suck his d*** for information' was suspended by the force for four years on full pay, a court heard.

Mark Turner, 38, checked records of a domestic violence call out for a woman he had previously met while on the beat. The pair had exhchanged sexually charged messaged previously'. A short time later, after checking the files, Turner replied: "you owe me a BJ."

Preston Crown Court heard in 2018, married Turner embarked on a sexting relationship with a woman he met while investigating a theft from her place of work, in Marple, Stockport, LancsLive reports. The messages between the pair "made the most racy Carry On film look like Songs of Praise", the court heard.

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During the trial, Turner described himself as "your friendly neighbourhood beat Bobby". But sentencing, Judge Simon Medland KC said: "The text messages behind that give a very different image indeed.

"You allowed yourself to get into an utterly disgraceful relationship with a woman who herself should have known better. This occupied a not inconsiderable amount of your mind, which should have been devoted to supporting your community, which was your role. "

After hearing details of the salacious text affair, much of which was conducted while Turner was on duty, the jury at Preston Crown Court took less than two hours to unanimously find Turner guilty of misusing police computers.

Judge Simon Medland KC said since Turner's arrest in 2018, the disgraced officer has been suspended on full pay by Greater Manchester Police.

"The outcome is that for four years the public has been paying full pay to him while he does nothing", he said.

The judge called for GMP to urgently review their personnel procedures, saying at the very least those investigating the offence would have learned that a married PCSO had engaged in an ongoing sexting relationship with a married woman - part of it while on duty.

He said: "I find it very curious that someone could still be graced with the title of PCSO and could still be in contact with women as such - which is how he met this woman."

Sentencing Turner to a £2,000 fine and £2,000 prosecution costs, the judge told Turner: "On this occasion, in November 2018, you intruded, quite deliberately, into the police system, to have a look at personal police information which wasn't anything to do with you and wasn't any part of your beat.

"You did this for one reason, and one reason alone - that the woman who asked you to promised you oral sex."

While suspended on full pay from GMP, pending internal disciplinary procedures, Turner has been working as a wedding DJ.

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